John 3:16-18 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (17) For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (18) "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
We have already seen that it is God’s will that the church should judge sinful practices within the church. It is not the will of God however; that the church should judge sinful practices in the world, and this is where many Christians get it wrong. We read in an earlier quoted passage of scripture that the apostle Paul stated categorically that the church is not called to judge the world in this life, for their judgement falls under God’s domain (1 Corinthians 5:12-13). Sadly however, many in the church look upon the world and condemn them for their sinful practices, and yet that is not our mandate at all, for our mandate remains the same as our Lord’s. In the above quoted passage of scripture our Lord tells us plainly that He did not come into the world to condemn it but rather that the world might be saved through Him. And so although our Lord Jesus did teach that certain sinful practices would incur harsher penalties than others, He nevertheless warned that all sins have the same effect of condemning all who commit them to eternal punishment and He therefore admonished all to repent (Luke 13:1-5). The church is meant to proclaim the same message to the world, i.e. repentance from “all sin” and salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Sadly many in the church miss it, when they highlight certain sinful practices in society and publically condemn them, such as homosexuality for example, while at the same time ignoring other “less grievous” sins. This practice is not condoned by the Holy Spirit and it therefore ultimately hinders the preaching of the gospel of salvation, because it promotes a message of condemnation and not one of reconciliation to God through redemption in Christ Jesus. And so when the world sees the church behaving in this manner they view it as being a bigoted organisation and their witness becomes ignored and the church becomes less relevant in society.
Michael E.B. Maher
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